It is noteworthy that as finance has been on the 'rise,' some activistsbegan to formalize anti-corporate and targeted activist campaign strategiesthrough pension and personal investment funds. In Canada and the U.S.,several faith organizations began to argue that anti-social corporatebehaviour should be, in some sense, sanctioned by individual investors andultimate owners, on the basis of social principle or humanitarian values.These initiatives then crystallized and drew broader support with the riseof the sanctions and divestment movement directed against corporate andgovernment support for apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

Such initiatives have seen their labels evolving from "ethical investment,"to "socially responsible investment" (SRI), to the most recent simplifiedterm of "responsible investment." While many trade unions, NGOs, andactivists have embraced these efforts, others have not, and a substantialdifferentiation on the political left has emerged. Most recently, Queen'spolitical economist Susanne Soederberg has produced a sharply criticalanalysis of these investor-activist efforts from a Marxist politicaleconomy framework. This critique follows previous analyses by CAWeconomists Sam Gindin and Jim Stanford, both of whom have raised seriousquestions about these strategies as projections of trade union or workingclass power. Other unions and labour organizations have embraced thesestrategies with enthusiasm, as is notable in the establishment of a"Committee on Workers Capital" at the international level.

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